Rossendale, Pendle, Colne, Nelson, Burnley, Hyndburn Services.

In 2012 VIC started working across Rossendale with three projects; Outreach, outdoor activities and an art group. Our first base of operations was in the REAL building in Bacup and with two outreaches; Bacup and Haslingden. We were fortunate to get our first funding from East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (ELCCG) early in 2013 and this meant we had funding towards our operational costs in Rossendale and parts of East Lancashire for our first 12 months.

The funding initially was to deliver some activities for veterans and families living in those areas, and to work at strategic level to raise awareness of veterans and some of the health and transitional barriers that some experienced when leaving the Armed Forces.

Over the last 5 years we had repeated funding by ELCCG and this continued funding has enabled us to build on the initial activities developed in 2012 and add a greater range, and develop existing projects.

During the last 5 years we received grants from the Armed Forces Covenant Grant Scheme for funding to;

Renovate and establish a veteran’s centre in Haslingden, the VIC Centre in Haslingden.

Deliver the art and crafts to the wider community, the Creative Community Hub.

Purchase a vehicle that is able to provide transport for all our activities and to use when we do community projects, VIC Crew Bus.

Extend the normal opening hours of the VIC Centre and to deliver activities during weekends and bank holidays, Open All Hours.

In 2014 we received a further grant from the ELCCG through the Social Prescribing funding to develop Dig for VIC, a workshop and garden space at the rear of the VIC Centre in Haslingden. This initial funding gave us opportunities to develop two further allotments out in the community; one in Rossendale and one in Middleton.

VIC now offers a range of activities in East Lancashire for veterans and their families;

The Armed Forces Covenant

The purpose of these regular meetings are to bring together the Local Authorities, third sector armed forces groups and charities, health representatives from the local area and other organisations who are involved in working with veterans.

‘The Armed Forces Covenant sets out the relationship between the nation, the government and the armed forces. It recognises that the whole nation has a moral obligation to members of the armed forces and their families, and it establishes how they should expect to be treated.The covenant’s 2 principles are that:

the armed forces community should not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services.

special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.

The covenant exists to redress the disadvantages that the armed forces community may face in comparison to other citizens, and to recognise sacrifices made.’

Veterans Priority Treatment

The Military Covenant is an agreement between the Armed Forces Community, the Government and Nation. On November 3rd 2011 The Military Covenant was enshrined in Law and put into the Armed Forces Act.

What this means to the health professional is that they need to offer ex-service personnel (Veterans) 'Priority Treatment'.

In simple terms this means that if a veteran is suffering from a health condition that can be attributed to their military service then they should be given priority treatment. However to prioritise, this does not mean they would jump to the front of the queue. If people already have a clear clinical need they should be prioritised, but if those waiting have an equal clinical need then the veteran should take priority.